Ombrophilous
by Morivanim
Summary: Sequel to Who Are You? - Spencer and Lisa have been together 4 months, but when it's time to meet the parents will Lisa still want Spencer in her life?
1. Good New and Band News

Spencer Reid was a lucky man. He had a job where he felt he was making a difference, he had friends who cared about him, and he had a girlfriend he was crazy about. Spencer and Lisa had been together for four months and although it was, almost entirely, long distance, it seemed to be working. Spencer made sure to call or text every day, even when out on assignment, and though neither one of them could afford to fly out often as they'd like, they managed to see each other every now and then. Yes, Spencer Reid was a very lucky man, it was just hard for him to remember that sometimes.

"All of the victims were strangled using the same cord." JJ informed them as pictures of dead bodies filled the screen they were looking at. No one should ever have to see these things so often, but it came with the job, and it wasn't a job you could easily walk away from.

After finishing up their briefing the team went to get their go bags and head to the airport. On their way down to the cars Spencer made a phone call.

"Hey! I'm glad you called." an excited voice answered.

"Yeah? Even if it's just to let you know I'm going out of town, and won't be able to call for a while."

"Okay maybe not so glad anymore." Spencer snorted, "But while I've got you I have some news."

"What is it?" Spencer asked loading his things into the van that would take them to the airport.

"My dad is retiring next week, and they're having this big party for him, so I'll be flying out to DC next week."

"Really? You're coming out here?" Spencer asked excitedly.

"Yeah, there's a catch though."

"What catch?"

"My parents want to meet you."

Spencer's mouth went dry. "Oh. Okay."

"Okay?"

"Yeah." Spencer said still mostly frozen in terror.

"Alright, I'll let them know and we'll schedule something when you get back."

Sounds good." He said trying to sound more excited about it than he was.

"Good. Now go save the world."

"Bye."

"Bye."

"How's Lisa?" Emily asked as he piled into the van and they pulled away.

"Good. She's coming out next week." He told them.

"That's good news isn't it?" JJ asked, seeing the look on Spencer's face.

"Yeah."

"Then why do you look like someone just told you your dog died?" she asked.

"Because when she comes to town I'm going to be meeting her parents."

"Ohhhh…" the entire car resounded in sounds of sympathetic pain, and Spencer just nodded.

"Well look on the bright side, maybe you'll get kidnapped by the unsub." Morgan joked.

"Yeah, maybe." Spencer said to himself, turning his head to look out the car window.

Nobody would ever say that being a people person was one of Spencer's strengths. Growing up as a child prodigy had made him more than a little socially awkward, and though he may have made some strides in his social graces since meeting Lisa, he was still a far cry from being able to interact normally, especially during a first encounter. Meaning that a first encounter with his girlfriend's parents, was bound to be about as successful as the Hindenburg. He almost hoped that the unsub would at least put him in the hospital for a while.

Lisa was no more excited about the news she had given Spencer than he was. Although they had been together for four months, the distance had kept their relationship from progressing very far, and if it had truly been up to her, Spencer wouldn't be meeting her parents for a long time. However it was not solely up to her. When her father had told her about his retirement and the party that he was receiving she had of course wanted to come out, she was after all a daddy's girl, unfortunately she couldn't afford to fly out. Her mother however had offered to pay for the flight, and Lisa had accepted the offer without knowing the fine print. It hadn't been until just days before she was meant to fly out that her mother had given her the condition that they would have to meet her boyfriend.

Lisa had tried to talk her mother out of it, claiming that the relationship was new and there was no need for them to be introduced, but Lisa's mother was nothing if not stubborn and simply told her daughter that she could either set up the meeting or pay her own way. So, Lisa gave in and, when Spencer called, informed him of the good and bad news.

She could feel the headache beginning to form as she thought about the upcoming week. Quickly dialing the first number she could think of Lisa waited for the greeting before responding , "I need a drink."


	2. I Plead The Fifth

Monday afternoon Lisa found herself way too close to a man who desperately needed a tic tac. Slowly she waddled out of the plane with the rest of the passengers. When she could finally breathe again, Lisa let out a sigh of relief. The first thing Lisa saw as she exited baggage claim was her father looking around through the crowds for her.

"Daddy!" she yelled, her dad finding her immediately.

Lisa all but ran to her dad who waited with outstretched arms.

"Gummi Bear!" her dad yelled hugging his daughter. "How are you?"

"I'm great. How are you?"

"Better with you here." Lisa smiled.

Their happy moment was interrupted by the clearing of a throat beside them.

"Don't I get a hug?" A very polished looking woman asked.

"Hi mom." Lisa said giving a hug to the woman.

"How was your flight honey?" her mother asked, as they began to walk to the car.

"It was alright." Lisa told her.

"We're glad to have you home." Her dad said slinging an arm around her.

"Glad to be home." Lisa said looking up and smiling at her dad.

The ride home to her parents brown stone was long thanks to the DC traffic, but it was pleasant enough, Lisa and her father dominating the conversation on the ride. When they got home Lisa was left alone to relax and unpack before they went out for dinner.

When her things were unpacked, Lisa laid down on her bed. She was happy to be home, really she was, but she had a constant knot of worry in her stomach that had been there since the moment Spencer had agreed to meet her parents. She closed her eyes and tried to will the knot away, but it wouldn't budge, so giving up she changed into something more suitable for dinner and went downstairs.

"So Lisa," her mother began as the waiters had finished serving them their entrées, "When are going to be meeting Spencer."

Lisa had to give her mother credit for waiting this long to ask. "I don't know yet." She said, knowing without even looking, that her mother's lips were pursing together. "He's currently out on assignment. He's supposed to call me the second he gets back into town, so that you can meet him."

"Very well." Her mother said putting a fork full of food into her mouth.

"I for one am excited to meet him, you know you've told us almost nothing about him." Her dad said.

"There's not much I can tell you. We haven't been dating long." Lisa said, feeling very uncomfortable.

"Alright, then I'll just have to grill him when we meet him." Lisa's head shot up, only to see her father wink at her. At least she knew her dad would approve.

Spencer sat watching Rossi interrogate the man they were certain was their unsub. The others were all out searching the man's place. Spencer knew they'd find where the man was keeping the bodies, he was messy and disorganized, he was just waiting for their call.

The detective in the room with him had caught him glancing at his watch one too many times for his liking and had taken it as a sign of worry from the young doctor.

"Should they have called by now?" the detective asked, now beginning to worry himself.

"No, a proper search should take a while longer." Spencer said, not taking his eyes off of Rossi.

"Then why have you been looking at your watch so often?"

"Sorry," Spencer said turning and walking over to a chair. "My girlfriend's flight is just supposed to land soon."

"You have a girlfriend?" the detective asked shocked.

"Yes," Spencer answered slightly offended at the detective's shock.

The detective snorted, "What is she an astrophysicist?"

"A nurse actually."

"Right." The two were interrupted by Spencer's phone going off.

"Hotch?" Spencer answered. "Okay, good."

"They found it." Spencer told the detective before going to tell Rossi.

By the time they were done with everything at the local police department it was too late for the jet to take off, so they would have to wait until morning. Spencer was actually a little relieved that they had to wait, he was in no rush to return home, because he knew that when he did he would have to meet Lisa's parents and that terrified him more than the monster of a man that they had just put behind bars.

Lisa had mentioned her parents once or twice before, but he knew very little about them, and not knowing something was not something that Spencer was used to. He didn't like not knowing things. He did know that Lisa's father's name was Georg and her mother's name was Rose. He also knew that Lisa was much closer to her father. Outside of that he knew almost nothing. Hopefully Lisa would tell him something more before they met.

Lisa was sitting on the floor in her pajamas playing a game of cards with her dad, her mother sitting in a chair nearby reading, when her phone rang. Checking the caller id Lisa quickly excused herself into the kitchen to take the call.

"Hey Spencer."

"Hey."

"You back already?" she asked.

"No, our pilot can't leave until the morning, I should be back before noon."

"Thank God, my mom's already bugging me about meeting you." Lisa said hoisting herself up onto the counter.

"Yeah? You know you haven't told me much about them." Spencer said, hoping to get some information.

"Well my dad's an attorney and my mom works as an event coordinator for the National Museum of Natural History." Lisa told him.

"Right," Spencer said, suddenly a lot more nervous.

"You're not intimidated are you Spencer?"

"Of course I'm intimidated, they're your parents, what's not to be intimidated about?" This was the first time since Lisa had told him that her parents had wanted to meet him that Spencer had made any sort of mention of being nervous. Knowing that he was just as nervous as she was, somehow made some of that nervousness disappear.

"Yeah well don't worry, my dad will love you."

"What about your mom?"

"Your guess is as good as mine there." Lisa told him watching her feet as she swung them back and forth.

"Great" Spencer said sarcastically. Lisa chuckled. "I should probably get to bed soon, I've got to get up early if I'm going to get make that flight."

"Yeah, wouldn't want to miss that. So we'll do dinner tomorrow? Give you some time to relax before throwing you to the wolves."

"Sounds good. I can't wait to see you."

"Me either, good night."

"Good night."

Lisa smiled and hung up the phone. She happily walked back into the living room where her mother and father were sitting. "That was Spencer." She said gaining their attention. "He'll be back tomorrow, so I thought we'd all meet for dinner if that's alright."

"That'll be just fine." Lisa's mother told her smiling.

Lisa smiled back and then took her place back playing cards with her dad. "You didn't cheat did you?"

"I plead the fifth." Her dad said, smile on his face.


	3. Why

Normally when Spencer got home from a case he would relax, maybe sit down with a good book for a while. This time though he couldn't relax no matter how hard he tried, he was just too nervous. He should have been excited, after all he was going to see Lisa, but he was too terrified of the fact that he would have to sit through an entire meal with her parents, to feel anything else. Spencer had already taken 2 showers, looked through his entire wardrobe 4 times and brushed his hair 6 times and he hadn't even been home 3 hours yet.

He was almost thankful when the clock finally informed him that it was time for him to leave. He was fairly certain that actually meeting her parents couldn't be half as agonizing as waiting to meet them had been.

Spencer had just gotten into a cab and informed the driver where to go when his phone rang.

"Hello?" he answered.

"Hey Spence, you've got to come in."

"What? JJ, I'm on my way to meet Lisa's parents." He told her, as though she and the others hadn't already had to deal with his panic at the situation.

"I know Reid but it's coming from above, everyone's being called in. And I mean everyone."

Spencer rubbed his eyes, this could not be happening to him.

"We need you here now."

"Alright, I'm on my way." Spencer sighed hanging up the phone.

"Hey, I'm goning to have to change the destination. Can you drop me off at the nearest metro station?" Spencer asked as he dialed Lisa's number.

Lisa was walking up to the restaurant to meet her parents when she got Spencer's phone call. "Hey, couldn't wait another 5 minutes to talk to me?" Lisa asked, smiling. She had spent hours getting ready, excited to see Spencer again for the first time in well over a month.

"Yeah, about that, Lisa I can't make it. I just got a call."

"And it can't wait until morning?"

"Apparently not."

"Well what is it?"

"I don't know yet. I'm really sorry Lisa."

"It's okay. I understand, just hurry back, yeah?"

"I will. Bye."

"Bye." Lisa sighed heavily as she hung up the phone. She saw her dad waving at her and slowly walked over. "Hi"

"Hey honey, so where is your man?" her dad asked.

"He can't make it, apparently there's been some kind of emergency at work."

Her mother opened her mouth to say something but Lisa's dad quickly intervened. "Well that's a shame, but I suppose we can still have a nice family dinner."

Lisa's mom just smiled as George led them into the restaurant, though Lisa could clearly tell she wanted to say something.

Spencer arrived at the BAU and found the place in panic. Any anger or annoyance he had felt at being called in was immediately replaced with confusion.

"Finally! What took you so long?"

"The metro was running late, JJ what's going on?" Spencer said following her as she raced past him to the conference room where everyone else was already assembled.

Spencer took a seat next to Derek who looked just as confused as Spencer felt. "Do you know what's going on?" Spencer leaned over and asked.

"No idea, no one's said anything yet, but it's gotta be big."

Their conversation was interrupted as JJ began to speak.

"As I'm sure you can we have not been called in for a simple case. One hour ago these pictures along with a letter were sent to the head office." JJ turned the screen on and three pictures of blindfolded and beaten people appeared. They weren't just any people either the three highest ranking agents in the FBI, Jared Holton, Henry Craiger and Heather Baker.

"Oh God." Emily said, voicing everyone's thoughts.

"What do we know?" Aaron asked, immediately getting down to business.

"Almost nothing," JJ told them looking terrified. "And we don't have much time either. In the note the unsub writes 'you have three day and then three bodies'", there's a copy of the full note in here, she said finally handing out case files, brought in only moments ago by a frazzled looking intern.

"Where were they last seen?" Spencer asked.

"They were all seen by their families leaving for work this morning, all of them called in sick, so no one noticed them missing, until this."

"Who could have done this?" Penelope asked, more to herself than anyone else.

"That's what we need to figure out."


	4. Just Shut Up

Dinner with her parents had been tense to say the least. George had tried his best to keep Lisa and her mother happy, and calm, but even through years of practice even he could only do so much. The tension finally exploded on the car ride home.

"I'm only saying that if you didn't want us to meet him you should have said something." Rose said following her daughter as she stormed into the house.

"I did, a thousand times, and you black mailed me with a plane ticket!" Lisa turned and yelled.

"Oh please, black mail, as if."

"Ahh!" Lisa let out a frustrated scream. "Why is it that you can find so much fault in everyone else, and can't admit a damn thing you do wrong?"

Rose took a breath to calm herself, "Just because you are angry that your boyfriend cancelled does not mean that you should take it out on me."

"I am not mad at Spencer, I'm mad at you, you selfish, stuck up …"

"LISA!" George shouted, keeping his daughter from saying something she might regret.

Giving one last glare to her mother Lisa stormed up to her room, throwing her purse violently on to her bed and pacing. She couldn't believe the gall that woman had. Yes Spencer had cancelled on dinner for work, and to anyone else in the world that would be all that it was, but of course her mother had to assume that it was an affront to her. That Spencer had faked a work emergency simply to get out of meeting her, and of course that it had been Lisa who had orchestrated the entire thing. Lisa swore that even Spencer's mother, a diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic, wasn't that bad.

Lisa needed to calm down, and being stuck in her room was not helping. Unwilling to leave through the front door, Lisa opened her window and reverting back to the age of 14 snuck out the window and down the fire escape.

Spencer couldn't think, everything around him was moving too fast, everyone was talking at the same time and it was effecting him greatly. He needed a second to breathe, but there just wasn't time. JJ hadn't been kidding when they said they knew almost nothing, the note had been no help in identifying who might want to take these three top FBI agents. They knew that the attack was either an attack against the government as a whole or the FBI itself, though which one they had no idea. Once the agents had left from their homes no one had seen them, anywhere, and their cars hadn't been found. Every minute they didn't know something was another minute closer to finding the dead body of someone they knew and the weight of that knowledge was immense.

"Reid…Reid!" Spencer was snapped to the present by Aaron's voice.

"Sorry, what?"

"I need you and Prentiss to go to the police station, the families are all there, find out everything they've seen, heard, and done as far back as they can remember."

"Okay." Spencer said grabbing his coat and following Emily out of the building. Hoping to get something out of this.

Lisa had walked up and down a couple of the blocks around her home, just clearing her head. By the time she was finally ready to come home she knew her parents would have noticed her absence, so she simply walked in through the front door. She wasn't surprised when she opened the door to find her dad sitting in wait.

"Do we have to do this?" she asked, suddenly very tired.

"Tradition is tradition." George said patting the spot next to him on the couch.

"I don't need these headaches." Lisa said sitting down.

"She doesn't mean to cause them."

"I know, I'm her daughter, she loves me."

"And she'd just worried you don't love her back."

"She's my mother, of course I love her."

"But you don't tell her anything about your life."

"Yes I…"  
"No, you don't" he interrupted, "You told me about Spencer two months ago, she found out when I asked if you were bringing him to my retirement party."

"So I don't tell her about boys. Can you blame me after the way she had reacted to all of my other boyfriends?"

"She just worries."

"She freaks out. She nearly had David arrested for statutory rape, and I was 22."

"Yes, well, you really should learn to lock your door."

"Daddy!"

"Just don't give up on her yet. I still want to have both of my girls beside me, smiling at my party." George said putting his arm around Lisa and kissing her on the forehead.

"Alright, just, can you try to keep her a little more sane until I leave?

"Oh Gummi Bear, you know can't promise that."

Lisa laughed, kissed her dad on the cheek and went back to her room. As she got ready for bed her phone vibrated on her nightstand. Picking it up she saw a text from Spencer.

"Good night." It read.

She quickly responded in kind before getting into bed and falling asleep with a smile on her face.


	5. Heartless

Over the next few days things had cooled off between Lisa and her mother. They of course had disagreements, it was almost impossible for them to make it through an entire day without at least one, but there were no more blow ups. George wondered how he had ever made it through 18 years with them both in one house. When Lisa and Rose had gotten into an argument that morning he had felt secure that, having reached their quota for the day, they wouldn't cause any problems at his retirement party that night, so he sat in his living room sipping on a scotch, waiting for his wife and daughter to finish getting ready.

Lisa was the first to come down. She looked beautiful, hair done up, long black gown, making her look so much older than he thought his little girl should.

"Wow." He said looking at her, "You are beautiful."

"Thanks Daddy." She told him.

George poured his daughter a glass of wine. When he turned around to hand it to her she was looking at her phone. "I take it you still haven't heard from Spencer yet."

"No, I don't think so. Which is a shame, I was really looking forward to showing him off."

George chuckled.

"Is the car not here yet?" Rose asked, coming down the stairs to find her daughter and husband laughing together.

"No, not yet. Would you care for a glass of wine while we wait?"

"I'd love one."

"How the hell are we supposed to get through all of this?" Emily asked as a pile of folders were placed onto the table the team was currently gathered around.

"As quickly as possible." Aaron instructed her, picking up a file and reading it as fast as he could.

They were doing the best they could but it didn't feel like enough. They had manage to scrounge up enough evidence to suggest that whoever was doing this had been either fired or rejected by the FBI. So here they stood, 3 hours from the end of the three day deadline the unsub had given them with every file on everyone fired or turned down in the past 6 months, there were hundreds of them.

It was times like this that Spencer was grateful for his brain, he was flying through the files three times as fast as the others. Unfortunately he was still coming up empty.

They had been at it for well over an hour when finally something popped.

"Martin Kellwere." Spencer said suddenly, standing up. All eyes were on him. "He has the Director's father down as a reference but was still rejected for entrance into the FBI Academy 3 months ago. He failed a psych exam."

"Get it to Garcia"

Spencer ran to Penelope's office.

"Garcia, Martin Kellwere."

Immediately she began to type. "Martin Kellwere, rejected 3 months ago by the FBI, and his wife filled for divorce a week later."

"Find every piece of property in his name."

"He owns an apartment, and his wife owns a parking garage in DC, it's been under construction for months."

"What's the parking garage's address?"

Quickly Penelope gave him the address and he was off. They wasted no time running to the vans, calling the police on their way. They had less than 2 hours, Spencer hoped he was right.

The party for Lisa's father was going perfectly. There had been toasts and reminiscing, and everyone seemed to agree that the world was losing one hell of an attorney, or at least that was what they all said, word for word. Lisa and her mother were seeming to get along, mostly due to the fact that they weren't talking to the same people. Although her mother never left her father's side, Lisa could be found dancing with several of her father's now ex-coworkers.

Needing to take a break from dancing Lisa made her excuses to her current partner and went to go find her father. After asking a few people if they had seen him she was told that he was in a smoking room off from the ballroom where the party was being held.

She spotted him as soon as she walked through the door, sitting with a cigar in one hand and a scotch in another. "Enjoying yourself I see." She said walking up and putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Well it is my night." He said with a smile. "Why don't you go get yourself a drink and join us?"

"Alright, but only because you asked so nicely" she said going off to the bar to order a drink.

"Can I have an amaretto sour?" she asked the bar tender who happily went about making the drink. While waiting for her drink Lisa began to watch the t.v. behind the bar. It was set to the news."

"There was a lot of commotion downtown tonight as the local police in cooperation with the FBI brought down an armed suspect on the 49th block of DC." Hearing the FBI being mentioned Lisa asked the bar tender to turn the set up as he handed her, her drink. "The suspect was apprehended after an hour long stand off with the police, where an unidentified male FBI agent was shot and died on his way to the hospital." Lisa had a sudden moment of panic. She didn't notice her mother walking up next to her at the bar, she was too engrossed in the story.

"Neither the police nor the FBI are releasing any details to the public as of now, but it is believed that the man apprehended was holding hostages." Lisa listened intently to the rest of the story, but there wasn't much after that. They hadn't said anymore about the FBI agent who had been shot, and that terrified her. Lisa pulled her phone out of her purse, hoping to see a missed message or text, but there was nothing there.

"Lisa?" her mother asked, finally announcing her presence, "Are you alright?"

"What, yeah, I'm fine I just need some air." Lisa said before heading outside, leaving her untouched drink on the bar.

When Lisa got outside she sat down on the stairs and breathed deeply, putting her cellphone in her lap, and just waiting.

Rose had asked the bartender what had happened, he told her about the program Lisa had watched, and Rose immediately knew what was wrong with her daughter, and followed her outside. She saw Lisa sitting on the steps, phone out and assumed that she was texting with Spencer.

She walked up to Lisa and silently put her arm around her daughter. Lisa simply accepted the comforting gesture, truly needing one at that moment.

They sat there in silence, Lisa's head on her mother's shoulder, and for the first time in years, Lisa felt her mom being a mother to her. It should have been the beginning of the healing of their relationship, but Lisa and Rose were never meant to work like that.

"Oh, honey, I know this is going to be hard to hear, but maybe this is a good lesson."

Lisa raised her head, hoping that she had heard wrong. "Excuse me?"

"A job in the FBI does not lend itself to successful relationships, all it does is give you headaches that you don't need."

Lisa couldn't believe the words coming out of her mother's mouth. "I don't, I don't understand what you're saying right now." She stuttered, moving slowly away from her mother.

"I'm just saying maybe you're better off with someone in a more stable job." At the end of that sentence Lisa could feel the last straw of their relationship breaking.

"What is wrong with you?" she asked, the quiet before the storm.

"What…?" was all that Rose could get out before the flood gates opened.

"You hear that a man is shot and killed, a man with the same job as my boyfriend, so you come out here, comfort me and then tell me that my boyfriend isn't good enough for me. The boyfriend who could very possibly be lying in a hospital morgue. You're sick! You're telling me to break up with a man when I don't even know if he's dead or alive? You heartless bitch!" Lisa yelled, so angry that she was now standing, tears running down her face.

Her mother simply sat there in shock. "I thought you'd heard from him." She whispered.

"No, I haven't and even if I had, do you really think that after worrying about his life is a good time to tell me you don't approve? God you know nothing about him. You've never even met him." Lisa paused to take a breath and wipe her eyes. "I will not ruin daddy's night with this, but know this, I will not speak to you for the rest of the night, and I will not be there when you wake up. I refuse to spend another day with you." And with that Lisa walked back inside to find a bathroom and clean up, her head held high in defiance.

All Rose could do was sit there stunned, wondering what she had just done.


	6. Where Are You?

Lisa made good on the promises to her mother, after cleaning herself up, she had spent the rest of the night with a smile on her face, speaking to everyone but Rose. Rose had tried to discreetly apologize to her daughter but she was only met with an icy stare and silence. Even on the ride home Lisa had managed to keep up pleasant conversation with her father, while completely ignoring her. Rose and Lisa had had a lot of fights, a lot of arguments and a lot of blow ups. They had gone through periods of passive aggressiveness and of silent treatments, but this was different. This time Rose had managed to go too far, and she wasn't sure that Lisa would ever forgive her, and she didn't know how she would tell this to George.

When they got home Lisa kissed her father on the cheek and went up to her room. Once in her room Lisa pulled her phone back out, she had held it in her hand most of the night terrified of missing a call or message, and now staring at the blank screen of her phone she could feel her stomach dropping. Spencer always called or sent a message. Always. Every night, and not that she had told him, but it was a comfort to her. She knew Spencer's job was dangerous, it was always a thought in the back of her mind, and his assurances that he was okay had always quieted that thought. But now with the reality of exactly how dangerous his job was crashing down on her, he was nowhere to be found. She should have called him, but she couldn't bring herself to do it, if she called and he didn't pick up she wasn't sure what she'd do.

Lisa put down the phone and got ready for bed, changing, washing her face, and setting her alarm so that she could leave before her mother woke up. She was leaving first thing, she'd leave a note for her dad, and call him later to make sure that he didn't worry, but even staying through the night was hard for her now. Lisa picked up her phone and brought it with her to bed, and stared at it, praying for it to start ringing, until she fell asleep.

The next morning Lisa was woken early by her alarm. She had hoped that last night had all been a dream, but when she saw her cellphone clutched in her hand she knew it hadn't been. She checked and saw that her screen was still devoid of any messages, before getting up and packing her things. When she was packed she wrote a quick note to her dad and left it on the kitchen counter before leaving to head to a hotel. She wasn't willing to leave the city entirely until she knew about Spencer.

Lisa checked into a cheap hotel and stayed there all morning. Her phone rang around noon and she had never moved faster to answer it. When she answered it though, it wasn't Spencer's voice she heard, but her father's asking her to have lunch with him. Needing to get her mind off of her silent phone, she agreed.

"Hey Gummi Bear." George said rising from his seat at the table to kiss his daughter.

"Hi daddy" Lisa said sitting down.

"So how's your hotel?"

"Not, bad." Lisa said fiddling with her silverware.

"Your mother told me what happened." George said, Lisa just stared down at her hands, not wanting to relive it. "Have you heard from him?"

"No." Lisa answered a knot forming in her throat.

"I'm sure he's fine."

Lisa looked up. "He's never missed a night. In the 4 months we've been together there hasn't been a single night where I haven't heard from him. What are the odds that the night an FBI agent is killed is the same night he forgets to call?" She asked.

George didn't have an answer for her. "Don't give up hope." Was all he could say. They stayed silent for a while, only speaking when the waitress came to take their orders.

"You think you'll ever forgive your mom?" he asked after a while.

"I don't know." Lisa answered honestly.

"You know she thought you'd heard from him."

"Either way that was not the time or place to say those things." Lisa said, the anger in her beginning to bubble up again.

"So you're mad at when she said it, and not what she said?" he asked, trying to read his unusually cold and silent daughter. He had never seen Lisa this hurt before, and he wasn't sure what to do, so he was treading as carefully as he could.

"I'm furious at when she decided to say it, and mad at what she said." Their conversation paused as their food was brought out. "You know" she began as the waitress left again," Spencer and I have been together 4 months, that's not enough time for me to need to be thinking about a future with him, and it's even less needed since in those four months we've only ever been in the same city for maybe a total of three weeks. Why she felt to bring up any possible future, let alone one where I'm constantly miserable, is beyond me."

"She worries, and I know you don't think that's a good enough excuse, and it's not, but it's the truth. No matter how it seems she just wants you to be happy, and the second she sees something that could possibly threaten that happiness she's going to want to get rid of it."

"If that's true, that she wants me happy, and Spencer makes me happy, shouldn't that be enough for her?"

"Not when she has to hold you as you worry."

Lisa sighed. The conversation pretty much died after that, neither knowing what to say after that. When they finished lunch George tried to talk Lisa into having dinner with them, but she refused to see Rose. So they went their separate ways, Lisa promising to see him again the next day.

Lisa was a block away from her hotel when her phone rang, and her heart stopped. Before she answered it she checked the caller id, not wanting to get her hopes up. When she saw the name Spencer flashing across the screen, she felt every inch of her body relax with relief.

"Spencer?" she answered, making sure that it was him.

"Hey Lisa." Lisa had closed her eyes and swallowed to keep herself from crying in relief.

"Where have you been?" she asked.

"I'm sorry I didn't get to call you last night, it's been crazy." Spencer said.

Lisa tried to keep her emotions in check as they began to fluctuate. "Yeah, I heard an agent was shot. It was all over the news. Was it someone you knew?"

"I really can't say much, but yes I knew him" Lisa was quickly becoming angry as Spencer continued the conversation so calmly, as though it was just another day, another conversation, and she hadn't just spent the night worrying about whether he was alive or dead.

"Anyone from your team?" she asked, suddenly reverting back to the cold person she had adopted the night before.

"No, thankfully. Listen we've been given a few days off so I figured we could reschedule that dinner with your parents." Spencer said, noting the difference in her tone, and becoming worried.

"You know I think my parents are actually pretty busy for the next few days." Lisa almost snapped.

"Oh, well then maybe just the two of us?" Spencer asked, realizing that something was wrong.

"Yeah I'm actually pretty busy too." Lisa lied, as she continued walking to her hotel.

"Lisa is everything okay?" Spencer finally asked.

"Everything's fine, I'm just busy, look I've got to go." Lisa said as she pushed the button for the elevator.

"Okay, bye." Spencer said.

"Yeah." Lisa said before hanging up her phone. Lisa made it through the elevator ride and into her hotel room before bursting into tears.


	7. Maybe

Spencer hung up his phone, not entirely sure what had just happened. He had thought that Lisa would want to see him, he knew he wanted to see her. It was all he had thought about doing since the unsub was apprehended. He had been right about Kellwere, he was holding the three FBI agents in the basement of the parking garage that his ex-wife owned. He had blamed the FBI in its entirety for his failed marriage. They had managed to find him but the second he had felt cornered he shot. Henry Craiger didn't make it as they rushed him to the hospital. Since then there had been meetings, and de briefings as they tried to calm the chaos around them.

The second Spencer had gotten a free moment he called Lisa, hoping to see her soon. Even having been up for four days straight, she was all he could think about now, but she didn't want to see him, and he didn't know why. He would have called her again to find out what was wrong but his body and mind were both too tired, so he settled for going home and catching up on some of his lost sleep.

Lisa hadn't ever been this upset before. She was mad at everyone and everything, but mostly she was mad at herself. She wanted to see Spencer, badly, but she was too upset. Her mother's words from the night before were playing in her head. Although she had had absolutely no right to say anything, Rose's words had made sense. Spencer's job did make a stable relationship difficult.

Even if they lived in the same city they wouldn't see each other much more often than they did now. Spencer was always running off and risking his life, apparently even more than she knew. If she were to decide that she wanted a life with Spencer, what kind of a life would it really be? She tried to push the thought out of her head, it had only been 4 months, these were not the kinds of thoughts she should be having. It should be fun and happiness and romance, not worry and terror and a future. But she really did like Spencer, she didn't want to end things with him, and in time she would have to think about these things. Was she really willing to go through this kind of worry anytime Spencer didn't call? She didn't want to think about this anymore, so Lisa laid down in bed, pulling her knees to her chest and willing the world to go away.

When Lisa allowed the world to exist again she had left her hotel room and found herself outside the door of an apartment, feeling more nervous than she had in a long time.

Spencer hadn't been asleep for long when he was woken up by a knocking on his door. Still groggy Spencer got up out of bed and trudged to the door. All of his grogginess fled when he opened the door and saw Lisa standing behind it.

"Hey" He said surprised.

"Hey," Lisa responded. She had a small smile, but still looked upset. "Can I come in?"

"Yeah," Spencer said stepping aside.

Lisa had been to his place before, the last time she had been in town, so he wasn't shocked that she had known where he lived, he was just surprised that she was there at all, after how upset she had seemed on the phone, only hours earlier.

"I thought you said you were busy," he said ushering her into his living room area, clearing off some books from his couch so that they could sit.

"Yes, well I got un-busy" she said taking the offered seat.

"That's not a word," Spencer found himself nervously correcting her.

Lisa's smile finally reached her eyes as she snorted at him. As Spencer sat down next to her, Lisa snuggled into his side, her head on his shoulder and her arms around his waist, reveling in the feel of him just being there next to her.

"You sounded upset on the phone." Spencer said putting his arm around her.

"I had a fight with my mom." Lisa told him.

"Oh, good." Spencer said, earning himself a shocked look from Lisa, "Not that you had a fight with your mom, it's just I thought you were mad at me for missing the dinner with your parents."

"Oh I was mad at you, but not for missing dinner." Lisa said. She looked up and saw the confused look on Spencer's face. She sat up and faced him. "You didn't call me last night, you didn't even text me."

"You're mad at me for missing one night calling you?" he asked.

"Yes. Spencer last night an FBI agent died, and I didn't know who, and you didn't call. It was the worst of my life."

Immediately Spencer understood, "Lisa I'm sorry, I didn't mean to worry you, but things were crazy, I called you as soon as I could."

"You couldn't have sent me a quick text to let me know you're okay?"

"No, I really couldn't. Lisa, I'm not always going to be able to call, or text, sometimes it'll be because I'm swamped and sometimes it'll be because of protocols and rules, and I can't promise that you'll never have to worry like that again, but" he said taking her hands in his. "I'll try my best to keep the worry to a minimum."

It wasn't what she wanted to hear. She had wanted to hear that he'd never make her worry like that again, that he'd always call, and that everything would be okay. She didn't want to hear the truth, but it was what he had given her. Not saying anything more Lisa took her position in his side and just sat there for a moment.

It wasn't until Lisa had reached up and kissed him, her hand resting on his chest that Spencer noted his current state of undress. While Lisa was fully clothed, Spencer was dressed in nothing but his boxers and a pair of pajama pants. He felt a blush cover his cheeks as he felt her skin on his.

When the kiss ended and they pulled apart, Spencer cleared his throat, and tried to calm himself. "So, do I still have to meet your parents?"

Lisa smiled, seeing the nervous blush, and realizing for herself exactly what was causing the blush. She discreetly took in the picture of Spencer shirtless, never having seen him this way before, and committed it to memory. "Not right now." She said before pulling him in for another kiss.


	8. Agreements

Lisa was scheduled to leave two days after Spencer finally got back, she would have spent every minute of it with him if she could, but she had promised her dad that she would come by for lunch, on the agreement that her mother wouldn't be there. She should have known that her father wouldn't let their fight simply run its course.

"You said she wouldn't be here." Lisa said as she saw her mother sitting in the living room, looking far worse for wear than she ever had before.

"I lied," George said, putting a hand on Lisa's back and leading her over to stand in front of her mother. "Now, talk to each other."

"I think she's said enough." Lisa said, coldly ignoring the woman in front of her in order to speak only to her father. Refusing to look at her mother she missed the look of pain cross Rose's face.

George shot a look at Lisa, who didn't react. "If you refuse to speak to her, you will then sit and listen." He left no room for argument as he left the two alone.

"Won't you sit?" Rose asked. Lisa didn't move. "Very well, Lisa, I… I was out of line, and I apologize."

Lisa waited, but Rose said nothing more. "You apologize?" she finally said, appalled by the rehearsed and generic wording her mother had used.

"Yes."

"And you think that's going to make it all better?" Lisa glared at her mother.

"I don't know what else to say." Rose said, the calm mask she had so perfectly put in place, chipping.

Lisa shook her head in disbelief. Not trusting herself not to chew her mother out again she began to leave.

"I don't know what else to say because I disgust myself with the way I treated you."

Lisa stopped and turned to look at her mother. Rose looked as though she were breaking.

"I know that I can't take it back, but I want to more than anything else in this world." Rose told her, praying for her daughter to understand her pain. "Darling, I need to know that there is something, anything I can do to fix this."

"There is nothing that can fix what you said." Lisa said, watching her mother's face fall as she said the words, finally breaking completely. "But," Rose looked up hopefully, "I'm willing to let you try."

Though Lisa's cold facial expression hadn't changed Rose let herself give a hesitant smile.

"I want you to meet Spencer."

Rose's smile faltered.

"He's in my life, and you need to deal with that. You don't have to like it, which you've made very clear that you don't, but you have to respect it. I don't know for how long he'll be in my life, but until I decide on my own, that it's over, you cannot say a single, negative word about him, his job, or our relationship, or this time there will not be any force in the world that will get me to talk to you again. Is that clear?" Lisa waited for her mother's answer.

Rose swallowed past the lump in her throat. She didn't like the terms but if it meant her daughter wouldn't cut her out of her life she would try her hardest to live with it.

Rose nodded, "Perfectly clear. When do we meet him?" she asked, trying to hold her smile in place.

"Tomorrow. Over breakfast , he'll be taking me to the airport afterwards."

Receiving a nod of understanding from her mother Lisa left the room to get her father for lunch. He was going to buy her one very large cocktail with her meal.


	9. The End

Lisa and Spencer arrived together at breakfast the next morning. The meeting had gone as well as could be expected. Both George and Rose had been surprised and impressed when Spencer had told them about his education level, as Lisa had curiously forgotten to mention the fact that Spencer was in fact a certified genius. Apart from that surprise everything was normal, George had told jokes, Spencer had nervously spat out facts and statistics and Rose, true to her word, had stayed mostly silent, in order to keep the peace. All in all Lisa was very happy with how it all went.

Rose and George had already left to go home as Spencer and Lisa stood outside trying to catch a cab. Lisa smiled at Spencer as he stood trying to get a driver to stop. She often forgot exactly what it was that had drawn her to him in the first place, but every now and then something would remind her, and at that moment the way he had his brow furrowed in confusion and frustration as no one would top, was just the reminder she needed.

"Hey, don't worry about it. I left some stuff at your place, let's just head back there and call a company." She told him, taking his hand and walking off toward his apartment.

"You sure? I don't want you to miss your flight." He asked.

"I'm sure."

When they got back to his apartment Spencer immediately began to search around for things that weren't his. Lisa on the other hand, put down her bags, removed her jacket and flung it over a chair.

"What exactly did you leave again?" Spencer asked when he couldn't find anything out of place.

Lisa walked up to Spencer and put her arms around his shoulders. "This" she said before kissing him soundly.

"Lisa," Spencer admonished.

"Yes?" she questioned as she moved her lips his neck, while simultaneously slipping his coat off.

"What are you doing?" he asked trying to keep his head together as she hit a particularly sensitive spot close to his collar bone. "We have to get you to the airport."

"I can take a later flight." She said distracting Spencer by kissing him again.

Spencer made no move to argue this logic, and quickly kissed back, pulling her closer to him, and deepening the kiss. Soon they found themselves on the couch, Both missing their shoes, socks and shirts. When Lisa reached for his belt Spencer against every fiber of his being found himself stopping her.

"Wait, wait, are you sure about this?" Spencer asked breathlessly. Despite what some people thought he was not a virgin, but he had yet to be with Lisa, and though she had been the one to make the first move he wanted to be sure that he wasn't pushing her.

Lisa smiled and wiggled out from underneath him to stand in front of him. Slipping off her skirt, Lisa stood in front of Spencer in nothing but her bra and panties. "I'm sure" she said.

Needing no more prodding Spencer stood and pulled Lisa to him for a deep kiss, before pulling away and leading her into his bedroom, where they resumed their previous activities. Lisa would simply have to take the last flight out to Vegas, and she was more than alright with that.


End file.
